From the Land of SIBAA message from SIBA to its membership
You have received this email because you are currently subscribed to receive general correspondence. Please click @@unsubscribe_url@@ if you no longer wish to receive these communications. View this email online.
First Things First...
12/15: BIGNY Zoom event: More Than Just Paper, The Rise of the Stationery Market (more info) 12/15: Deadline to nominate
for the Nancy Olson Bookseller Award (read more) 1/7: Registration opens for Winter Institute (
more info) 1/7: Reader Meet Writer - The Wife Upstairs with Rachel Hawkins
1/12: Reader Meet Writer - The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus with Allan Gurganus 1/14: Reader Meet Writer - Wilmington's Lie with David Zucchino 1/25 - 1/29: New Voices New Rooms Winter Retreat
2/1: Southern Book Prize Ballot Deadline (here) 2/9: Reader Meet Writer - Code Name Hélène with Ariel Lawhon 2/11: Reader Meet Writer - Race Against Time with Jerry
Mitchell
2/18 - 2/20: ABA Winter Institute
3/4: Reader Meet Writer - Love at First with Kate Clayborn
Introducing The Southern Bookseller Review:
A Book for Every Reader
The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance is excited to announce the launch of The Southern Bookseller Review, a website and weekly newsletter focused on reviews from Southern indie booksellers. The Southern Bookseller Review (SBR)
introduces a new approach to SIBA’s commitment to outreach and advocacy for its bookstore members with their customers, potential customers, and the general reading public. Designed to showcase the wide range of southern
readers’ literary tastes and interests, SBR is the evolution of several long-standing, consumer-facing SIBA programs: Authors Round the South, Okra Picks, and The Lady Banks Commonplace Book newsletter.
At the heart of SBR are book reviews by SIBA booksellers of the books they are most excited to hand-sell. Reviews come from store websites, newsletters, social media, and submissions to Edelweiss Plus, the book industry platform for
marketing and ordering new titles. SBR is both a website and a weekly newsletter. The website contains a searchable
database of reviews from indie booksellers and a directory of Southern indie bookstores with
links to their reviews. It is also the new home of the Southern indie bestseller list and The Southern Book Prize.
The newsletter features recently posted reviews and highlights books that are receiving an exceptional amount of bookseller buzz. It will also contain profiles of Southern indie bookstores and booksellers.
Bookseller Guide to The Southern Bookseller Review
The Southern Bookseller Review website and weekly newsletter feature reviews from Southern indie booksellers and showcases
the wide range of literary tastes and interests of Southern readers. SBR Reviews come from store websites, newsletters, social media, and submissions to Edelweiss Plus, the book industry platform for marketing and ordering new
titles.
The Southern Bookseller
Review weekly newsletter replaces Lady Banks’ Commonplace Book as a reader-targeted newsletter. SBR is focused on bookseller reviews that demonstrate the wide range of reading interests and literary culture in their communities.
All books are linked back to the reviewing store for purchase. The primary goal of the newsletter is to emphasize Southern independent booksellers as a source for good and trustworthy recommendations of what to read next, for every
kind of reader.
Mobile Responsive and Social Media Friendly
The Southern Bookseller Review website and newsletter are built to be mobile responsive and highly social-media friendly. SIBA is rebranding its own reader-targeted social media accounts to SBR and has added a social media coordinator
to its staff to share SBR reviews and raise the visibility of reviewing stores.
In 2021 SIBA will convert its Lady Banks mailing list to The Southern Bookseller Review. Click here to subscribe to now.
The Wife Upstairs with Rachel Hawkins
Thu Jan 7th 7:00pm - 8:00pm 2021
RACHEL HAWKINS is the New York Times bestselling author of multiple books for young readers, and her work has been translated in over a dozen countries. She studied gender and sexuality in Victorian literature
at Auburn University and currently lives in Alabama. The Wife Upstairs is her first adult novel.
Now available to view: #BlackVoices
In Brief
Bookseller Scholarship Created in Memory of George Markey Keating
In memory of the longtime Simon & Schuster salesperson and sales director who died in June at age 71, the George Markey Keating Memorial Scholarship Fund has been founded under the aegis of the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc)
and in coordination with the New England Independent Booksellers Association, the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association and the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance and the support of Keating's widow, Ellen Keating,
and former S&S colleagues. The scholarship "will support the professional development of booksellers in the three regions where Keating championed his passion." More info and to donate here
Binc Announces New Match, Stretch Goals for Year-End Fundraising Campaign
This new goal will position Binc to help an increasing number of booksellers and comic retailers. The Foundation currently receives an average of 5-7 inquiries a week from booksellers and comic retailers, and we expect those numbers
will increase as the pandemic continues into 2021. In the first 10 months of 2020, Binc has helped more than 600 bookseller/comics retailer families, distributing more than $700,000. In the first 10 months of 2019, 88 families
received grants totaling approximately $200,000. To donate to Binc's year-end campaign, click here, or
call Binc’s Director of Development, Kathy Bartson, at 734-471-0201. read more
This week on Circle of Sites
Read more about SIBA's Circle of Sites Program (aka the "banner for dues" program) and find out whether your store is eligible to participate and
receive free membership dues.
Read This! Highest Rated Reviews from SIBA Booksellers
Some of the reviews submitted this week on Edelweiss+ from your fellow SIBA booksellers. Email nicki@sibaweb.com to be added to the SIBA Community
on Edelweiss.
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett Reviewed by Lee Hendrix, Reviewed by Talia Smart, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC On Edelweiss | Buy
After a whirlwind--and somewhat embarrassing--first encounter, Birdie doesn't expect to meet Daniel again. Then she shows up for her first night shift at a quirky hotel and realizes that she's about to become his coworker. Set
against the artsy, eclectic backdrop of Seattle, this sweet and sex-positive romance charmed me at every turn.
The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins Reviewed by Amy McNabb, Reading Rock Books in Dickson, TN On Edelweiss | Buy
What a great story. This is one of those books that you can't wait to get back to so you can figure out what is happening. The end will keep you guessing and make you wonder what happened in the end.
The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell Reviewed by Cat Chapman, Oxford Exchange in Tampa, FL On Edelweiss | Buy
A sooty and shadow-filled Victorian London acts as a sentient backdrop to the sinister, dark, clever (and somehow even hilarious at times), detective mystery that is The House on Vesper Sands. As a reader, there were just
so many sensory details and perfect moments of tension that made the world feel all the more real, and the discovery all the more haunting.
Walking with Ghosts by Gabriel Byrne Reviewed by Stuart McCommon, Novel. in Memphis, TN On Edelweiss | Buy
Walking With Ghosts is unlike any other memoir I’ve read. All of the typical biographical points are in there: place of birth, parental history, childhood experiences, and anything/everything you need to know about Gabriel
Byrne’s origin. However, the exceptional writing style and the language he uses makes this book stand out from the standard celebrity tell-all. Byrne uses a stream of consciousness to connect his adult experiences to growing
up in Ireland. And no one is left out: his first childhood crush, the town alcoholics, the prevalence of organized religion, and even the local artists/musicians who struggle with anxiety & depression (long before those
things were discussed openly or understood on a social level). He writes as if you’re with him experiencing everything in real time. Extreme traumas are revealed, but he expresses sentimentality in several of his memories.
Aside from his personal life, his career is a highway that starts with stage theatre and moves to working with the actors of the “Golden Age” of Hollywood before it arrives to the modern era of filmmaking. The mark of a good
memoir is that it’s a great book even if you have no idea of the author’s work or fame. This is that book. I recommend this as an incredible piece of nonfiction... it’s not just another celebrity bio.
1. Ready Player Two Ernest Cline, Ballantine, $28.99, 9781524761332 2. A Time for Mercy John Grisham, Doubleday, $29.95, 9780385545969 3. The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett, Riverhead Books, $27, 9780525536291 4. Anxious People Fredrik Backman, Atria, $28, 9781501160837 5. The Searcher Tana French, Viking, $27, 9780735224650
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1. A Promised Land Barack Obama, Crown, $45, 9781524763169 2. Caste Isabel Wilkerson, Random House, $32, 9780593230251 3. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Charlie Mackesy, HarperOne, $22.99, 9780062976581 4. The Best of Me David Sedaris, Little, Brown, $30, 9780316628242 5. Modern Comfort Food Ina Garten, Clarkson
Potter, $35, 9780804187060
Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Supporting independent bookstores in the South SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805
Thank you for your interest in SIBA, Nicki Leone SysAdmin
nicki@sibaweb.com
THANKS TO OUR INKREADIBLE SPONSORS:
SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805 You have received this email because you are currently subscribed to receive general correspondence. Please click @@unsubscribe_url@@ if you
no longer wish to receive these communications.
Are you interested in joining the circle of bookstores
sending invites to their customers? Please 
